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Q&A How do you avoid the problem of a collaborative work having separate voices?

For fiction that can accommodate different POVs, dividing those up per author not only addresses this problem but can be a feature. For cases where you want a unified voice, if you can't get a toug...

posted 13y ago by Monica Cellio‭  ·  edited 4y ago by Monica Cellio‭

Answer
#4: Post edited by user avatar Monica Cellio‭ · 2020-10-18T20:48:03Z (about 4 years ago)
  • For fiction that can accommodate different POVs, dividing those up per author not only addresses this problem but can be a feature.
  • For cases where you want a unified voice, if you can't get a tough editor like Lauren Ipsum suggested, try having the authors edit each other's sections. In technical-writing teams I've found that this drives the material toward the center; I have no experience doing this with fiction but would expect it to work. But first sit everybody down to have the "don't take this personally; it's about the work" conversation to reduce the chance of bruised egos.
  • For fiction that can accommodate different POVs, dividing those up per author not only addresses this problem but can be a feature.
  • For cases where you want a unified voice, if you can't get a tough editor like Lauren Ipsum suggested, try having the authors edit each other's sections. Or, as noted in [another answer](https://writing.codidact.com/questions/5186#answer-5189), carry that idea farther and trade writing/editing passes on the whole work.
  • In technical-writing teams I've found that editing each others' parts of a doc set drives the material toward the center; I have no experience doing this with fiction but would expect it to work. But first sit everybody down to have the "don't take this personally; it's about the work" conversation to reduce the chance of bruised egos.
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T02:11:29Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/4995
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T02:11:29Z (almost 5 years ago)
For fiction that can accommodate different POVs, dividing those up per author not only addresses this problem but can be a feature.

For cases where you want a unified voice, if you can't get a tough editor like Lauren Ipsum suggested, try having the authors edit each other's sections. In technical-writing teams I've found that this drives the material toward the center; I have no experience doing this with fiction but would expect it to work. But first sit everybody down to have the "don't take this personally; it's about the work" conversation to reduce the chance of bruised egos.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2012-02-09T16:00:24Z (almost 13 years ago)
Original score: 15